Iowa school shooter showed 'warning signs' and 'copycat behavior,' police say
The student gunman in a small-town Iowa school shooting in January in which two people were killed and several others injured was known to have a fascination with school shooters and exhibited a number of unreported “warning signs,” the Iowa Public Safety Department said Friday.
The student gunman in a small-town Iowa school shooting in January in which two people were killed and several others injured was known to have a fascination with school shooters and exhibited a number of unreported “warning signs,” the Iowa Public Safety Department said Friday.
The new details come from an investigation into the Jan. 4 shooting, in which 17-year-old Dylan Butler fired at students and staff at Perry High School before taking his own life.
Ahmir Jolliff, an 11-year-old sixth-grader, and Principal Dan Marburger, 56, were killed, and four students and two staff members were wounded.
“There is significant evidence of this shooter’s fascination with prior school shootings” and there was also evidence of “copycat behavior” in his actions, Stephan Bayens, commissioner of the Iowa Public Safety Department, said in a news conference.
Bayens said the investigation found that no one knew of the shooter's specific plans for that day. But, he added, “I can say that others were aware of the shooter’s general interest in school shootings, others were aware of his fascination for violence, others were aware of his concerning behaviors. The evidence bears that out.”
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